Please join the Juvenile Instructor in welcoming Edje as the newest guest blogger to the JI. Edje is a regular commenter here at JI (and other sites around the ‘nacle), and is, like the rest of us here (except for ol’ man Taysom), a grad student in history. Here is what he has to say about himself: (more…)

Mormon historians’ various analyses of Nauvoo usually include a line or two about what became of Nauvoo after the Latter-day Saints left town.  In The Story of the Latter-day Saints, James Allen and Glen Leonard summarized post-Mormon Nauvoo by explaining that after the Saints headed west, “the temple was shamefully desecrated by mobs; finally, in October 1848, an incendiary set fire to that magnificent sacred structure. (more…)

Recently, while reading Randall Stephens’ excellent new book, The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South (review here), I came across the following passage, which naturally intrigued me. (more…)

In honor of Earth Day, here is an excerpt from an 1860 sermon by Brigham Young. I’m intrigued by how his counsel to cultivate the earth figures into his eschatology. (more…)

Two weeks ago, just after the completion of the Easter holiday, Elder Philip Gill, a Presiding Elder in the Latter Day Church of Jesus Christ, delivered the new church’s first Easter message to the world on YouTube.  For those not familiar with this organization, it was established in England in 2006, and recognizes Matthew Gill as a prophet and Joseph Smith’s rightful successor. (more…)

The following is a review of the morning session of the Eighth Annual Mormon Studies Conference at Utah Valley State College.  A review of the afternoon session is forthcoming here at the Juvenile Instructor.  

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John Turner, assistant professor of history at the University of South Alabama and contributing editor at the Religion and American History blog, asked me to post the following for him. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. (more…)

In 1841, apostle John Taylor traveled to the Isle of Man, a small island situated in the middle of the Irish Sea, in between Ireland and England.  He there introduced the gospel to the Cannon family (his in-laws), as well as other future prominent Mormon families, including the Quayles and the Cowleys.[1]  Taylor encountered fierce opposition from the primarily Methodist clergy he encountered in the Isle of Man, as well as from the Manx press.  The following excerpt comes from a letter to the editor of Mona’s Herald in April 1841.  This satirical piece of poetry purports to represent the Mormon message being spread by Elder Taylor. (more…)

In 1874, Brigham Young assigned Daniel Webster Jones, Mormon convert and noted rescuer of the ill-fated Willie Handcart Company of 1856, to lead a group of missionaries into Mexico–the first expedition to that country by the Latter-day Saints.[1] At the time of this call, Young explained to Jones “that he would like to have some extracts from the Book of Mormon translated to send to the people of Mexico,” and asked Jones and Henry Brizzee to begin the translation. (more…)

In 1892, as the Jubilee Celebration of the Relief Society approached, Elvira S. Barney authored an article in the Woman’s Exponent entitled “Fifty Years Past, and One Hundred Years Hence.”  (more…)

In addition to the annual conference of the Mormon History Association coming up in May (discussed by Justin at Mormon Wasp here), other notable conference dealing with Mormon Studies are scheduled for this Spring.  For those interested, here is a brief rundown of those conferences: (more…)

In hopes of living up to the recent declaration that the Juvenile Instructor is a “big LDS blog,” we’re pleased to announce that Jordan W. will be joining the team here at JI as a permablogger.  Jordan’s posts as a guest blogger were well received (well, mostly well received, see comment #11!!!!!!!), and we look forward to his future contributions. Please help us welcome Jordan as the newest full-time blogger at the Juvenile Instructor.

In the April 1925 General Conference of the Church, Presiding Bishop Charles Nibley defended the notion that the Constitution of the United States of America was an inspired document, and proposed that the principles of the Constitution are inseperably connected with the Restoration of the Gospel.  (more…)

In 1831, just a year after the organization of Joseph Smith’s Church of Christ, an anonymous author wrote an article in the Painesville Telegraph regarding the new religion.  He argued that whether Mormonism was the true restoration of the ancient Apostolic Church or not, the Mormons had no “proof” of their “honesty.” (more…)

Writing in 1957, Catholic sociologist Thomas F. O’Dea devoted a chapter of his important work, The Mormons, to what he saw as “sources of strain and conflict” in the Latter-day Saint church.  The most significant of those sources of strain, according to O’Dea, was the unsettled issue of the relationship between the institutional church and the growing number of “liberal intellectual” Mormons who had encountered “modern secular thought.”  While admitting that “the situation of the intellectual is likely to be somewhat ambiguous in any society,” [1] O’Dea felt that especially in the paradoxical Mormon church, which emphasized ecclesiastical authority and revelation but also encouraged education and intellectual pursuit among the rank-and-file, the intellectuals’ dilemma was especially enigmatic.  After briefly tracing the history of the strain, conflict, and compromise in the early 20th century between the conservative church and the liberal intellectuals, O’Dea ended by suggesting that the matter was far from settled. (more…)

The Juvenile Instructor is pleased to introduce its newest guest blogger, Jordan Watkins.  Jordan has long been friends with many of the bloggers here at JI, and is an aspiring young scholar interested in Mormon and American Religious History.  He describes himself thus:

My name is Jordan Watkins and I’m pretty awesome…and objective:) I was born and raised in Alpine, Utah in the heart of “Happy Valley” where above 95% of the population is LDS. I served an LDS mission in Leon, Mexico. I received my BA in history at BYU. I am in my second semester at Claremont Graduate University in the MA history program, emphasizing in 19th Century US Religious History as best I can (small history faculty, none specializing in US Religious History). I have no wife, no kids, and no pets. I realize this should translate into a large number of brilliant publications and conference presentations, but alas, I think I like watching movies and sleeping too much.

We should add that he has, indeed, presented a few fascinating papers at academic conferences and his work has been published, including a recent article he co-authored in BYU Studies.  Please join us in welcoming Jordan to the Juvenile Instructor.

According to the Belief-O-Matic Quiz at beliefnet.com, my beliefs regarding God, the afterlife, human nature, etc. match up 92% with Mormonism.  According to the site, they match up better (100%) with “Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants.”  I imagine this is due to the fact that ”Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants” include a wide range of religious groups and beliefs.  More interesting to me was the fact that my views lined up well with the Quakers (both orthodox and liberal varieties), as well as the Ba’hai faith, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and (gulp) Neo-Paganism.  (more…)

The Juvenile Instructor would like to thank BHodges for his contributions as a guest blogger the last week and a half.  His insights into the Journal of Discourses produced some great discussion, and we encourage everyone interested to keep up with his exploration of the JD over at his blog, Life on Gold Plates.  Please leave a comment helping us thank him for his contributions.  Thanks again, BHodges.

I recently came across an internet quiz entitled “Which Theologian are You?”  You answer thirty theological questions, answering each on a six-division scale progressing from “disagree” to “agree”, and then submit your answers. In response, the quiz matches up your theology (by percentage) with that of ten influential Christians from throughout history, ranking them from one to ten, and tells you a bit about the theologian you match most closely with. 

I match up 67% with Charles Finney, the noted Presbyterian revivalist and Joseph Smith’s contemporary in upstate New York, but Anselm is close behind at 60%.  Jonathan Edwards, the 18th-century Puritan preacher and theologian, came in last with only a 13% match.  I am curious to see what others’ matches are.  If you take the quiz, please leave a comment telling who your first and last matches were.  I’m interested in how Latter-day Saints situate their theology in relation to other Christian denominations’ theologians, and what that reveals about the notion of a “Mormon Theology” or lack thereof.

The Juvenile Instructor is pleased to welcome BHodges as its latest guest blogger.  BHodges maintains his own blog, Life on Gold Plates, which primarily focuses on insights from the Journal of Discourses.  He offers the following short bio.

I’m a 26 year old journalism student/computer technician with an addiction to books that would make me an unfit parent, if I had any children. I served in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin mission from 2001-2003 and currently serve as the primary chorister in the Porter Lane 3rd Ward. I have a wonderful wife named Kristen, and an obedient dog named Chicken Delicious. My appetite for reading any and all things LDS has turned me into something of an autodidact. Recently my attention has turned to the Journal of Discourses, and in reading the volumes I concluded a blog of the more interesting or profitable parts would be a good project.

We look forward to the insights BHodges will contribute to the JI in the coming week.